Two Sides of the Same Coin
by Takato.Hiroshima-1993
Summary: Narumi has a secret. He's been betraying everyone. They think he's his brother, but he's not. After three years in a comatose state, Naruto is back. Now that the twins are back together, what will happen? How will the people of Konoha react? Please R and
1. Chapter 1: The Photograph

**Two Sides of the Same Coin**

**Chapter One**

**The Photograph**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just Narumi.

"Come on Old Man, let me show them!" A boy about fourteen pleaded to an old man wearing a set of red and white robes.

"No Narumi, it's too soon." The old man turned around and stared out a large window, fat drops of rain pelting its surface. "We must wait until he is fully recovered."

"How much longer must we wait! He's been in a comatose state for three years now!" Narumi argued, his blond hair falling over his eyes.

"The medic-nin say that he is recovering quickly. Soon he will be strong enough." The old man continued to stare out across the large village. "Until then, you must keep portraying your twin." The man turned around to stare at the youth once more, the teens blue eyes staring right back with an iciness edge.

The boy said nothing but turned and walked out of the large office. Down the dark hallway, past the windows that glowed every time the lighting outside struck, and down the stairs that trembled with every roar of thunder.

Out the large oak doors he walked into the freezing rain, his black cargo pants and white shirt immediately sticking to his skin. Along the dirt road he walked, always aware of the eyes that followed him. When he was young, his brother and him would try to lose and confuse the eyes, but not anymore. The eyes were just another part of life for them.

Soon he reached an old apartment building and climbed up the creaking stairway to the third floor. Walking down the outside hall, he passed door after door of abandoned rooms. They had left when the brothers had moved in. Narumi reached his apartment, number 39, the last one.

Removing a silver key from a chain around his neck, he opened the door. He stepped into a dingy room, past a small kitchen and adjourning sitting room, and finally down a dark hallway. The hallway had two doors, one on either side of the hall. Narumi reached for the handle of the door on the right, then paused. He looked behind him at the opposite door, and sighed.

"Soon, soon my dear brother, you will be home." Narumi whispered then walked into his room. The room contained only a bed, wardrobe, and a bedside table. A door on the other side of the room could be seen to lead to a small bathroom. Narumi sat on the bed and picked up a picture from the small table.

The picture of was four people, all wearing headbands with the symbol of a leaf on them. The eldest person was a man with gray hair and a mask that covered the lower portion of his face. His headband covered his right eye. The man was wearing a green vest and a smile, his hands on the heads of two of the three kids in front of him.

The child on the left was a young girl with pink hair, a headband holding it back, showing off her broad forehead. She wore a red dress and a blush that obviously came from the young man next to her.

The youth in the middle was a boy with raven hair, his headband was placed on his forehead, almost hidden by his bangs. His dark blue shirt had a symbol of a red and white fan on the left sleeve of his shirt. His black eyes were scrunched up in irritation at the person on his right.

This person was a boy with blond hair and a headband across his forehead. His blue eyes stood out against his dark complexion, and the three whisker marks on each cheek stood out as well.

Narumi sighed and replaced the photograph, a grave expression on his face. He slowly traced the whisker-like markings on his cheeks and let his hand fall to his lap.

"_Why should I have to wear those markings!" A twelve-year-old Narumi shouted at an old man._

"_You must take your brothers place, you must become your brother and take his place on team seven." The old man said, sitting at his desk. "The damage done to his seal by Orochimaru was very severe, it will take time to reverse the damage and heal your brother. During that time, nothing must seem out of the ordinary."_

"_So you want me to impersonate my brother? It's the middle of the Chunnin exams! The final exam is in one month!" Narumi slammed his hands on the desk. "I've done all I can to help my brother, by your orders! It was your idea for the village to only know one of us, it was your idea to train me, now it's your idea for me to become a liar? To lie to Konoha! Not to mention all the nations that will be at the exams!"_

"_I will have Jiraiya train you, then after the exams, he will take you away for two years, by that time, your brother should have recuperated enough so that everything could go back to the way it was before."_

"_I still don't see why I have to wear the markings of that beast. The beast that has caused my brother so much pain." Narumi's eyes grew dark._

"_You have to keep up your facade." That's all the old man said._

'A facade huh. The facade was supposed to stop a year ago. But bro's still in a coma and I've deceived the village for another year, not to mention my team.' Narumi thought to himself.

He slowly put on a pair of blue pajamas and crawled underneath the thin blanket on his bed. Although it was the middle of summer, the air was chilly and Narumi shivered. He took one last look a the framed picture. Looking away, Narumi closed his eyes and fell into a light slumber, still aware of the figure outside his window.

A/N: What do you think? I was really bored so I wrote this. I have the second chapter written, I just need to type it, but I won't post it until I get some constructive and/or positive feedback. Of course flames are considered constructive, it tells me what you don't like. When I'm satisfied, I'll post. (Hint: Doesn't take much, only five reviews.)


	2. Chapter 2: Chuunin Exams Part One

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Chapter Two

Chunnin Exams Part One

**A/N: I don't own Naruto, only Narumi. Also, please read all the way through and read the Author's note at the bottom.**

"Where is he? He's late!" A girl with pink hair said.

"Calm down Sakura." A man with gray hair and a mask covering half his face told the young girl. "Perhaps he forgot we were meeting at the academy today?"

"I guess so Kakashi-sensei." Sakura looked up as the glass double doors of the academy opened.

Narumi walked into the large entrance hall wearing an orange jumpsuit and blue sandals. He was slightly wet, even though it had stopped raining.

"Sorry I'm late. While I was walking someone threw their wash water out of a window, and obviously the water hit me. I stopped to wring out as much of the water I could and ended up getting stuck in the morning traffic." Narumi shrugged as he walked towards the student and teacher. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Sasuke went ahead to try and stall for time since you were late." Sakura informed Narumi, hands on her hips.

"Well then, shall we get going?" Kakashi said as he motioned towards the staircase. The two teens nodded and followed their teacher up the stairs.

The group walked up three flights of stairs before they reached their destination. A boy with raven hair and black hairs was leaning against a wall, obviously waiting for the group.

"About time you guys showed up." The boy said coming towards the group.

"Have they started yet, Sasuke?" Sakura asked indicating towards a door on their left.

"I was able to persuade them to wait a few minutes." Sasuke grinned and opened the door.

"Ah, thank you team seven for deciding to join us." A man wearing a black bandanna and scars all over his face told the three young people as they entered.

All the occupants of said room turned around in their seats to gawk at the newcomers. The occupants numbered about hundred and fifty and were all relatively young.

"Yes, very sorry about the lateness Ibiki." Kakashi told the scarred man as he made his way down to the front of the room. "Naruto was running a bit late, so we waited for him.

"And why was a ninja applicant such as Naruto running late?" Ibiki addressed Narumi as he asked this. Narumi kept his head down and avoided looking his eyes. Ibiki was one of the few people that Narumi had worked with over the years, and could easily recognize him.

"I'm afraid that Naruto's lateness is my fault Ibiki." The old man from the night before said, coming into the room from a side door. "I asked him to stop by and see me this morning. Afterwards I heard he had some trouble with water and traffic." The old man chuckled.

"Hmm, Naruto explained to us about the water and traffic, Lord Hokage, but he made no mention of coming to see you." Kakashi told the Hokage, scratching his grey hair as he did.

"It was only a small chat, not really worth mentioning actually." The Hokage looked at Narumi and winked. Narumi sighed and looked for his teammates. He found Sasuke in the fifth, Sakura in the seventh, and he himself was situated in third row.

"Whatever." Ibiki motioned towards the door and two adults wearing green vests started walking down the aisles on either side of the desks. As the passed each desk they handed out sheets of paper to be passed along, one sheet of paper for each genin.

"The two ninjas are handing out the written part of the exam right now. These eleven questions will test your overall knowledge of battle strategies and basic maneuvers used by ninjas extensively. The eleventh question is an oral question that will be answered when an hour has passed." Ibiki snapped his fingers and thirty ninjas entered the room, each carrying a clipboard. Fifteen ninjas sat on each side of the side of the room in the chairs provided.

"These ninjas will be watching for any signs of cheating. If you are caught cheating three times, then you and your entire team are eliminated from the Chuunin Exam." Ibiki grinned as many of the genin grimaced. "Now, when I point to you, please stand up and state your name, country of origin, and team name."

Ibiki began with the girl sitting next to Narumi. She was a little shorter than Narumi with her purple hair laying on her shoulders. The most noticeable feature of the girl was her full white eyes. In a shy voice girl answered, "Hinata Hyuuga, Konoha, and Team Eight." Afterwards she immediately sat back down.

After that it continued with a red haired guy from Sand country, then a girl from water country. Ibiki kept randomly choosing people who would say their name, then sit down. Throughout this process, the old man in the red robes just sat and smiled.

Finally Ibiki pointed to Narumi, and the Hokage's smile disappeared. Narumi stood up, head down, and mumbled his response.

"Lift your head, and speak clearly, Naruto." Ibiki ordered. As Narumi lifted his head, Ibiki caught his eyes, and gasped.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I'm from Konoha, and with Team Seven." Narumi then sat down, head down once more.

When all the names has been said and recorded, Ibiki once again addressed the group as a whole. "Now that the formalities have all been dealt with, I will give the floor to our honorable Lord Hokage." Ibiki said stepping back, allowing the old man to have the rooms attention.

"First of all, I am truly honored to have so many guests from the other villages attend this event. Second, as you already know the purpose of this test to, well test your skills as a ninja and see if you possess the skills needed to advance to the next rank of your ninja career." With that, the Hokage gave the floor back to Ibiki and sat back down.

"You have one hour to complete the first ten questions. You may begin!" Ibiki bellowed and the scratching of pencils on paper could be heard immediately. 

Narumi sighed as he stared at his paper. He was certain that Ibiki had recognized him, and Narumi was just waiting for Ibiki to call him on it. 

Narumi had been trained as a Black Ops since he was very young, as a way to protect to his twin from the village that wished him dead. Narumi smiled as he remembered how exhilarating it was snuck into an enemy village, stealing secret information right under the enemy's nose. There were even a couple of times when Narumi had been present as Anko and Ibiki interrogated a prisoner.

Narumi sighed once again and looked at the first question. The question read: "Line B, as seen in the picture, is the greatest possible distance a shinobi can throw his shuriken from a tree of seven meters. For enemies who appear within the circumference or the shuriken's range, explain the attack the options using this distance. Show your work."

'This is so easy.' Narumi thought as he started to fill in the answers. 'Let's see, these questions are tough, now that I look at them. I'm only able to answer them because of my training.' Narumi looked out of the corner of his eye and saw that most of the students were using clever tricks to cheat their way through the test. 'So that's it.' Narumi smirked and started gathering chakra in his eyes. 'Aoiro metsuki douten! (Blue eyes transistion)'

Narumi pupils spun until two distinct colors could be seen forming a ying yang symbol. The colors were black and white, within a sea of dark blue.

'Thank you Mom.' Both of the twins had gotten their kekkai genkai from their mother, Kushina Uzumaki. Narumi's had awakened when he was five years old, and Naruto's when he was seven. Naruto hid his to keep the villagers from thinking he was becoming to powerful. Narumi used his in missions.

'Let's see, which unlucky contestant do I get to use?' Narumi thought. He chose a boy from Waterfall village and focused one eye on the boy and the other on his paper. Immediately Narumi could see everything that his chosen target could. Narumi soon realized that this boy wasn't of genin level, that it was a Chuunin in disguise. 'Pretty smart, put someone in who knows all the answers, and see who can cheat off them. I still don't know why Naruto didn't use his eyes during this part of the test.'

_"You left the test completely blank?" Narumi asked his brother as they sat in their apartment._

_ "Yep. I didn't know any of the answers, so I just faked my way through." Naruto took a drink of his root beer and leaned against the window._

_ "Why didn't you use the eyes? Wasn't the whole point of the test to try to cheat without anyone seeing?" Narumi looked at his brother and saw a solemn expression on his face._

_ "I just didn't feel like it." _

'There was something else, I know it. That expression on his face was just to sad.' Narumi sighed and glanced at his paper. 'What do you know, I've finished the test, except for number eleven. I didn't even realize I was writing.' That was a downside effect of the eyes. If you copied something, you really needed to watch what you write. Your muscles can easily take off on their own and write while the mind wanders. Narumi once wrote fifty-seven pages of enemy information from a stakeout, before he realized he was still writing. He only needed the first five pages to complete his mission.

"PENCILS DOWN!" Ibiki's voice rang out in the quiet of the room. Narumi glanced at the clock and saw that an hour had indeed passed. That was another downside, whenever you use the eyes, you go into a sort of trance and lose all track of time.. That's why he always had a partner with him on a mission where he intended to use his eyes. As Narumi removed the chakra from his eyes, he knew that Ibiki had yelled for the very purpose of waking Narumi up from his trance.

"I will now tell you question eleven. But first, there is a condition that follows this rule. If you do not get this question right, then you will be banned from the Chuunin Exam, forever." A hushed silence fell over the room. "However, if you leave now, you may still participate next year. Just raise your hand, and you and your entire team will be eliminated." At Ibiki's words, four hands went up and four teams were eliminated.

Out of the original fifty teams, only twenty-five still remained. Ibiki smiled, a smile that sent shivers up several of the genins backs.

"All of you who are left, congratulations. You pass." Ibiki laughed as he saw a few of the looks that the young ninjas were giving him. "It really didn't matter if you were able to answer the questions or not, all that mattered was if you could fake your way through this part of the exam. Now, everyone that is left, please proceed out of this door and follow the chuunins, they will lead you to the next site for the next part of the exam."

All the genins got up and walked past Ibiki. When the last shinobi was out of the room, and Ibiki was left, he sighed. 'Why is Narumi posing as his brother?' Ibiki wondered as he picked up the exam papers. When he came to Narumi's paper, he saw a note had been hasily scribbled in the lower left hand corner.

_Ibiki…yes I'm posing as my brother. I don't want to, but it's a mission from the Hokage. Naruto's injuries from last time, from Orochimaru, put him in a comatose state, so now I'm basically him until he heals. The medic nins say that he's almost fully recovered, so I'm only posing for a little longer. Please don't tell. Right now THIS IS AN S-CLASS SECRET. Narumi._

Ibiki sighed once again, and then used a fire jutsu to burn the parchment. 'So the Hokage put you up to it huh. I guess I'll go watch your brother for you.' As Ibiki walked out of the room, he stopped, and his eyes widened with sudden realization. 'Shit, Anko.' Ibiki started walking again. 'Oh well, I'm pretty sure he can handle himself against Anko. Maybe I'll send a Black Ops just in case.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! So what did you think? I know it's a little rushed, but I wrote this at like midnight and beyond. Do you like the plot? This is just going to be a small piece, maybe a few more chapters. I'm not going to introduce any big baddies, just put some chaos and a few tear jerkers. Please review, whenever you review, it fills my heart with joy!**


	3. Chapter 3: Chuunin Exams Part Two

Two Sides of the Same Coin

**Two Sides of the Same Coin**

**Chapter Three**

**Chunnin Exams Part Two – The Forest of Death**

"Welcome to the Forest of Death!" A woman who was wearing fishnets and a trench coat announced with an eerie smile. "This will be the site for the second test. All you have to do is make it to the tower in the middle of the forest in one piece."

"That's it, no secret traps?" A young genin from the waterfall village asked hesitantly.

"Nope, that's just some of it. Your team will either be given a heaven scroll, or an earth scroll. Your objective is to retrieve both scrolls and bring them to the tower. Your mission though has a time limit, three days. After that we send a team in after your butts and you fail the Chunnin Exams." Anko told the group.

"It won't be that simple, will it?" A boy asked as he made his way forward, stopping a few feet away from Narumi.

"You're right, it won't be that simple." Anko smirked. "The forest itself will be after you with its many inhabitants, and you will all be competing against each other for the scrolls." Without even a second pause after finishing, the proctor threw a kunai at the genin who had asked the question. Without so much as a blink, the boy caught the kunai between his fingers and sent it right back at Anko. Now the boy had Narumi's full attention.

The boy was wearing standard black cargo pants with a long-sleeved red shirt. Over the shirt was a black vest that had a self sewn Konoha leaf on the back. The leaf headband on his left arm only proved he was from Konoha. The strangest part of the boy was his head. Bandages covered his entire face save a hole for his mouth and eyes. Sunglasses hid his eyes from view, and a black hat hid much of his hair.

Snatching the kunai from the air with her fingers, Anko returned the knife to her pouch. "What's your name boy?"

The boy answered, "Maiko."

"WRONG!" A shrill voice could be heard from the back of the crowd and a small figure made their way through the crowd. Emerging behind the boy, Moegi proceeded to pull his ear.

"Your name is Numi." Moegi told the boy as he wrenched his ear free.

"But I don't like the name Numi, I want to be Maiko!" Numi/Maiko told her as he crossed his arms and stuck out his lower lip.

Moegi sighed and faced Anko with a small bow. "I'm very sorry for my teammate. He just recently recovered from a mental illness enough so that he could participate in the exam. He's only covered because he received some severe burns to his face while on a mission that left some unattractive burns. The Hokage put him with Udon and me as a replacement for Konohamaru."

"What happened to Konohamaru?" Sakura asked, worry evident in her voice.

"A couple of trees fell on him during our last mission and broke or bruised every bone in his body." Udon explained as he stood next to Moegi, his nose running as usual.

"Ouch." Anko winced to demonstrate what she meant. "Oh well, just keep this Numi guy in line." Addressing the crowd Anko continued. "Now I need every one to make there way to the table on my left and pick up a paper. Afterwards you will take said paper to the table on my right and receive a scroll. You will then go to a pre-assigned gate and wait for the signal to start."

"What are the papers for?" Udon asked.

"They're liability papers saying that is you die during this test, then the Village of Konoha cannot be held responsible." Anko responded and gave a small chuckle as Udon's face fell. "You have fifteen minutes to sign the paper, get your scroll, and arrive at your gate!"

Narumi, Sakura, and Sasuke walked over to the table on Anko's left and grabbed a form each. Signing them as they made their way over of to the other table they kept silent. After receiving their heaven scroll the made there way to gate fifty-seven. Once there Sasuke and Sakura took seats on some rocks.

"I think Sakura should keep the scroll." Sasuke finally said. "If anyone tries to get it off her, she can yell sexual harassment and kick them with a chakra enhanced kick."

"Very funny Sasuke," Sakura sighed. "I agree with me keeping the scroll but I will not yell sexual harassment."

"So you'll still kick them a chakra enhanced kick?" Narumi grinned as he saw Sakura's sly smile.

"Of course I will, I'll even kick their groin." Both Narumi and Sasuke winced as Sakura started laughing.

"Alright, all joking aside now, who should we go after first in order to get the earth scroll?" Sasuke asked. "I was thinking we should go after Moegi and Udon's team first."

"I don't think that would be a good idea. You saw how easily that Numi guy deflected Anko's kunai. Anko is jonin level and he returned it without blinking." Narumi explained. "What about a local team?"

"Nah, we know all of there moves, and they know ours, it wouldn't be any fun." Sakura answered. "What about a waterfall village team? We've never fought against waterfall."

"I like the idea. How about you Narumi, what do you say?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm in, though I should tell you that I spent two months in a waterfall village with Jiraiya while we were away." Narumi smiled. "They're techniques aren't that difficult, and have several flaws."

"That's alright. I mainly want to fight them so that I could say I did." Sakura sighed. "They probably won't be any match for us anyway. Do you guys know what the signal is?"

"No, but considering its Anko, we'll know when to start." Sure enough, a minute after Sasuke said that a primal yell rang throughout the area and gave fifty-seven burst open.

"I'd say that was the signal." Narumi said and Sakura nodded in agreement. Moving swiftly through the gate, the three soon began to race through the branches of the trees in search of their selected prey.

"There they are," Sasuke whispered to his teammates. "And they must me amateurs." The waterfall team that the three had staked out were in the middle of a clearing arguing over who should carry the scroll. The said scroll was laying in the middle of the little huddle in plain sight.

"Oh man, they have a heaven scroll as well." Sakura sighed. "I really wanted to get this exam over and done with in one shot."

"We still can. All we have to do is kick these guys butts, grab the heaven scroll, and bargain with another Konoha team for an earth scroll." Narumi suggested.

"Good idea. That way these losers get kicked out early, and all the real competitors will still be in next round." Sasuke grinned. "I'll actually get to participate this year."

"Yeah, beating up on a ball of sand isn't exactly fighting." Narumi ducked to avoid a punch that Sasuke threw.

"You two cut it out!" Sakura hissed. "They're getting ready to move out." Sure enough the three waterfall ninja had finally decided who would carry the scroll and were getting ready to move. "Can we use maneuver three on these chumps?"

"Sure, we haven't used that one in a while." To eliminate the need to devise a new plan for every mission, team seven had created five different maneuvers that could be changed only slightly to suit different mission needs.

Sakura stood up from their hiding place in the surrounding foliage and slowly walked towards the young boys, moving her hips seductively as she did. Meanwhile Sasuke and Narumi headed to the left and right of the small group.

"Hi boys," Sakura said in a seductive voice. "I've got something to show you, come here." Sakura used her index finger to lure them towards her.

"W-what d-do you w-want to sh-show us?" The apparent leader said as his tanned face flushed crimson.

"Oh nothing," Sakura's smile suddenly turned into an evil grin. "Only your heaven scroll." That's when Narumi and Sasuke suddenly jumped out and grabbed two of three and knocked them unconscious immediately. The third jumped at Sakura, and Sakura kept her promise. A minute later the young teen was on the ground passed out from pain.

"That was boring." Sasuke said as he rummaged through the leaders pockets and grabbed the scroll. "I had hoped it would be more of a challenge."

"Well what do expect after I had them completely under my spell." Sakura said as faked a hair toss.

"I guess you're right, remember what happened when you tried it on Shikamaru and Asuma." Narumi smiled at the memory.

_"Alright, so now that we have this new maneuver, how do we test it?" Sakura asked. "And for the record I cannot believe you guys talked me into this anyway."_

_"Oh come on Sakura, you have to stop and think about how many of the male ninja population let their hormones come over them and cloud their thinking." Narumi said with a grin. "I just got an idea, let's test it on Shikamaru and Asuma." _

_"Good idea, those two are complete opposites, ten bucks says Asuma falls completely, but has no effect on Shikamaru." Sasuke said with a smirk._

_"Ten bucks to the effect happening on Shikamaru and not Asuma. Remember, Asuma is married." Sakura grinned._

_"Ten bucks says they both fall to the effect." Narumi adopted a grin as well. "Remember, they're both men."_

_Ten minutes later found team seven and they're two guinea pigs in an abandoned training ground a few miles away from the village._

_"What are we here for?" Shikamaru asked a bored expression on his face._

_"That's what I'd liked to know." Asuma took a long drag of his cigarette. "You told me that Choji had gotten stuck in a tree, but I don't see him."_

_"Actually, we need to test a new……..technique, and we need your help." Narumi explained. "Alright, now just be on your guard." With that Sasuke and Narumi disappeared into the surrounding foliage._

_"Boys," Asuma and Shikamaru turned their attention towards Sakura and momentarily lost the ability to speak. Sakura had hunched over enough to give them a small view of her cleavage. Puckering her lips up just enough so that her voice sounded strained she continued._

_"The zipper on my belt is stuck, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to help." Sakura indicating the belt which hung low on her waist, very low on her waist._

_"Um….w-why don't you go and have your mom help you?" Asuma asked, his face a bright crimson, trying to tear his eyes away from Sakura._

_"Because part of the material from my dress is also stuck, and it makes it hard to walk." Sakura took a step and winced, then looked up at the two with a look of desperation on her face. "Shikamaru, won't you help me?"_

_Shikamaru blushed a bright crimson as well and looked at the ground. "Wow…um….I would like to but…..you see…..Temari would kill me……..so I….." Shikamaru was completely lost for words and Sakura grinned. At that moment, Narumi and Sasuke and jumped from the bushes and pinned the two men fairly easily with no resistence._

_"Oh man, I was waiting for an attack, but….." Shikamaru trailed off and buried his face in the ground._

_"Kurenai's gonna kill me." Asuma said as he shook his head._

_"Wow, it looks like we both owe Naruto ten bucks Sasuke." Sakura said with a smile, Sasuke only shook his head and took out his wallet._

"I remember that day." Sakura shook her head. "I have to say Naruto, it sometimes feels like you've changed."

Startled Narumi looked at Sakura with wide eyes. "And why would you ask that?"

"Because you never looked at how people acted to different situations. I mean you used your sexy no jutsu to get stuff from Jiraiya all the time, but ever since you came back from your training trip, you just don't seem like the Naruto we grew up with." Sakura looked at Narumi with a mixture of hurt and confusion written on her face. Sasuke only nodded and stared at Narumi with his piercing black eyes.

Narumi looked at the ground and tightened his hands into fists, his arms shaking. 'I can't lie to them anymore. Sorry Oji.' Narumi looked up and stared at his teammates, his friends. "My name is not Naruto Uzumaki. My name is Narumi Uzumaki, I am Naruto's twin brother." There was a long and uncomfortable silence after Narumi's proclamation.

"You're not Naruto." Sakura said with a disbelieving not in her voice.

"I'm Narumi, Naruto's twin brother." Narumi let his hands relax after he felt the blood flow down his hands from his hands biting into his palms.

"Then what happened to Naruto!" Sasuke said forcefully.

"Back when Orochimaru attacked he added a new seal to his already existing one."

"The one containing the demon fox." Sakura interrupted. Narumi nodded.

"Well after Jiraiya fixed the seal with another seal, the whole seal started to fall apart. In order to protect the village and Naruto himself, the Hokage decided to completely redo the seal. The process was a success, but it sent my brother into a comatose state, in which he has been in for almost three years now." Narumi finished and looked down at the ground once again.

"When did you first assume the role of your brother?" Sasuke asked.

"They started the sealing process one month before the final exam. I took my brother's place in the fight against Neji, and then on the training trip with Jiraiya. The medic nins thought they brother would be awake by the time we came back, but he wasn't. So I was still him from that day to now."

"How come we never knew about you?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice.

"As you've probably already guessed the village doesn't like my brother because of the fox. The Hokage thought it best if the village only had one child to take their anger on then two. I was trained as an ANBU from an early age in order to protect my brother."

"If you don't have the fox, then why do you have the whisker marks?" Sakura asked indicating towards his face.

"These marks are only a genjutsu, I don't really have these marks, only Naruto does." Narumi sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry that I lied to you, and made you think that I was my brother. I never wanted to lie, but the Hokage insisted. I'm not sorry though about spending time with you and becoming friends." Narumi finally looked up with a sad smile, and tear going down his face.

"You idiot," Sakura wrapped Narumi up in a hug. "I'm glad you told us, even though it's a direct violation of the Hokage's orders. I'm glad that you trust us." Breaking the hug Sakura looked at Narumi and smiled. "I happy that we're friends as well."

"I agree, going against the Hokage is a pretty big thing." Sasuke smirked. "You and your brother are more different then most people would think. I would like to see you to together, and see how you two interact just to compare and contrast."

"Is that you're way of saying your not mad?" Narumi asked.

"I guess so." Smirking Sasuke turned and started scanning the surrounding area. "Now where do you think we'll find a group of Konoha ninja?"

"Why don't we try to find a small river or stream? I overheard TenTen telling Lee that a gathering was planned there." Sakura said.

"I don't remember anything like that?" Narumi said with a confused look on his face.

"We haven't really seen the others in a couple of weeks remember? Kakashi's been drilling teamwork into our skulls." Sakura said, then smiled. "So how are we supposed to find this meeting point?"

"I'll handle that. Naruto and I inherited a kekkia genkai from our mother. It has two effects. One) it can allow you to copy something really fast. Two) it has similar properities to the byakugan that the Hyuga's use." Gathering chakra into his eyes, his eyes formed two ying yang symbols. "This is called the Aoiro Metsuki Douten, or just the Blue Eyes Transition." Looking at Sasuke and Sakura, Narumi adopted a very serious look. "There is a major downside though. When using the eyes the user sometimes loses all sense of time and his surroundings. That's why I usually have a partner with me on missions when I plan to use my eyes."

"Don't worry, we'll watch out for you." Sakura smiled and Narumi relaxed.

"Thank you." With that Narumi turned his attention to the surrounding forest and projected his eyesight. Soon Narumi was flying through the forest. Within what seemed like a couple of minutes he spotted the group of ninja and took notice of their location. Feeling a tug, Narumi knew that his friends were calling him back. Jolting backwards, Narumi blinked and saw Sakura in front of him.

"You weren't kidding about the zoning, it's been ten minutes already. Did you find them?" Sasuke asked from beside Narumi.

"Yeah, they're only about three miles to the north." Standing up from where he sat down on the ground sometime, Narumi patted off the dirt.

"Let's go then." Sakura said as she jumped into the trees. Sasuke and Narumi followed suit. When the group was in sight, Narumi stopped.

"What's wrong Narumi?" Sakura asked as she stopped next to Narumi, a worried expression on her face.

"Don't tell the others about me. Let them think I'm still Naruto." Narumi gave a small grin. "I don't want to be in even bigger trouble with the Hokage then I already am."

"All right," Sakura said, Sasuke responded with a shrug and the three set off again. A minute later they came upon a group.

"About time you guys got here." Ino told them the team as they made their way over. "We were just about to send Kiba in after you."

"Sorry we're late. I couldn't remember where Neji said we were meeting." Sasuke said as he lied. Neji's eyes only glared at Sasuke for a moment as way of acknowledgement.

"Anyway, somebody wouldn't have an extra earth scroll they're willing to trade for a heaven scroll, would they?" Sakura asked holding out their extra scroll.

"We do," TenTen said as she pulled out the said scroll. Quickly trading scrolls the girls made sure that their respective scrolls were secured tightly on their belts.

"How'd you guys get another scroll so fast?" Choji asked through a mouthful of potato chips.

"We just used our third maneuver on a couple of waterfall ninja." Sakura said glancing at Shikamaru. Said boy froze and looked away, a blush already apparent on his face. The whole started laughing much to his embarrassment.

"I still can't believe you got Shikamaru with that trick!" Ino said as she wiped a tear from her eye. "What did Temari say after she heard?"

"She stopped talking to me for a month." Shikamaru mumbled. "She thought something else had happened as well."

"I remember that, she came after me next." Sakura said.

_"I want to know what went on between you and Shikamaru the other day!" A furious Temari yelled at Sakura._

_"Nothing happened! I swear." Sakura said as she raised her hands to protect herself. "Shikamaru was just helping us test a new technique, he got a little flustered, but nothing physical happened, I swear!"_

_"Nothing had better happened." Temari hissed, then she abrubtly turned and walked away, slicing a tree straight through with her fan on the way._

"Temari can be scary sometimes." Sakura shivered at the memory.

"I'm so sorry we're late!" Moegi said as she burst through the surrounding foliage. "It took us forever to nail down those sound creeps."

"If we had just used my strategy, then we would have been done a whole lot sooner!" Maiko/Numi said as he came out behind Moegi. Udon followed silently behind the duo and greeted the rest of the group leaving Moegi and Maiko/Numi arguing.

"Can we assume that you guys have both your scrolls as well?" Narumi asked.

"Of course," Moegi told him. "So Naruto-boss, do you guys have a plan for getting to the tower?"

Narumi inwardly cringed at the title Moegi gave him. "Do you now where the tower is?"

"We didn't get a good look at the map." Udon told them. "Numi dragged us towards the gate the minute he got our scroll."

"Well sorry for wanting to get an early start." Maiko/Numi crossed his arms and pouted. "It's Maiko by the way."

"Whatever," Moegi rolled her eyes. Facing her sempais she continued. "Can we follow you guys to the tower?"

"Why not," Neji shrugged. "It's gonna take us the full three days to get there anyway. Half of us still need to find our matching scroll so we can take our time getting there."

"Then we don't have any time to lose." Kiba yelled as he jumped up. The rest followed his example and soon everyone was traveling through the trees. The group split the duties of making camp, finding food, and hiding their locations equally. The teams who still needed scrolls spread out during the night and attacked unsuspecting teams.

Three days later, the five teams arrived at the main door of the tower and entered. The interior of the tower was completely surrounded in shadows. A single window high up the south wall was the only source of light.

"Everyone make a circle in the middle and be careful." Shikamaru instructed the rest of the small party.

"What's up Shikamaru?" Neji whispered.

"I feel….for lack of better word…..something." Shikamaru said while he scanned the area. Neji and Hinata activated their byakugans and helped scan while Sasuke did what he could with his sharingan.

"There are hunched figures in the corners." Hinata whispered. "I count at least fifty."

"So that's three enemies for each person, with five extra enemies." Sasuke told the group. "How good is your blind fighting?"

"Hinata and I can manage with our byakugan, Lee and TenTen are weak in that area though." Neji informed Sasuke.

"Kiba and I can use our animals to guide us." Shino said.

"I can control the shadows of Ino and Choji." Shikamaru told the group.

"Udon and I are weak as well in dark fighting, but Numi's pretty good at it." Moegi announced.

"All three of us are pretty adept as well in this kind of fighting." Sasuke said after a moment of silence, after feeling a squeeze on his shoulders from Sakura and Narumi.

"All right, then how about the four older teams take the corner they're facing, then Moegi's team will take the middle." Shino said.

"I like it." Narumi was excited. He loved fighting in the dark, he could pull off some amazing moves and no one would see him.

"Should we make the first move, or let them?" Kiba asked. "I don't feel any bloodlust from them."

"H-how does bl-bloodlust feel?" Udon asked, a quiver evident in his voice.

"You can feel your enemies intent to kill you." Ino said.

"The tension in the area suddenly becomes so thick you can hardly breathe." Kiba added.

"Your skin creeps, and a cold sweat comes over your body." Maiko/Numi said in a low voice. "Terror races through your mind almost making it impossible to think."

"But I feel none of that." Narumi said, growing more concerned by the second. "I feel nothing from those lumps." To test his feeling Narumi threw kunai at one of the lumps and was rewarded with a resounding thud. "What the heck?"

Akamaru followed the scent of Narumi's kunai straight to the lump and began to investigate. A minute he came back to Kiba and barked softly in his ear.

"Akamaru says that those lumps are only logs covered by a black tarp." Kiba told the group.

"Logs, what are we supposed to burn this place to the ground?" Ino complained.

"That's exactly it!" Shikamaru and Neji said at the same time.

"This is a very complex genjutsu." Shikamaru explained. "The only way to break this time of genjutsu is to physically destroy it."

"And since the illusion was activated when we entered the tower, we have to destroy the tower." Neji finished the explanation.

"Is that all?" Sasuke sighed. Taking a stance right in front of one of the logs Sasuke did hand seals and activated his ninjutsu. "Giant fireball ninjutsu!" A large fireball escaped from Sasuke's mouth and headed for the log. The log and tarp immediately caught fire and the tarp send out sparks which ignited the surrounding area. Soon the whole tower was ablaze and the Konoha ninjas were smack dab in the middle.

"I thought the illusion was supposed to end once the log caught on fire?" TenTen said as she crouched low to the ground to escape the billowing smoke.

"The illusion won't end before the entire tower is consumed." Shikamaru told her. "I suspect that we'll be rescued before then though."

"I'm not going to wait for a rescue Shikamaru." Sakura said, gathering chakra into her fist. "That fire is getting awfully close and I don't want to be barbecue." Sakura punched the ground and opened a wide cavern underneath the tower itself. "Everyone, get in!"

The whole group wasted no time in jumping into the hole that Sakura had made. As soon as Sakura jumped in though, the fire vanished. A clapping sound could be heard from the rear of the cavern and electric lights suddenly turned on.

"Very good, you're the first group we didn't have to bail out of that inferno." Anko said, leaning against the sides of the cavern. "This group automatically gets to go to the next round of the exam with or without their scrolls."

"Wait a minute, you mean it doesn't matter now if we have our scrolls or not!" Moegi screeched.

"That's right." Anko grinned. "Now showers and guest rooms are just down the tunnel. At the end you'll find a set of stairs that will take you to the upper rooms of the main tower. The next round will begin in 24 hours so use your time wisely." Anko pointed to the right of her where a narrow tunnel could be seen. The group started wordlessly making their way through it. Narumi was about to go when Anko called him back. After everyone had left Anko rounded on him.

"Narumi, what the blazes do you think you're doing posing as your brother!" Anko yelled.

"I'm under orders from the Hokage to do so until Naruto recovers, and might I tell you that this is an S-Class secret!" Narumi hissed. Anko's eyes narrowed at the boy.

"You could have told me though. There were several occasions where I was about to call out your name earlier!" Anko sighed. "Listen, I know you love your brother and all, but why? Why are you suddenly taking over his life? And don't you dare give me the he's my brother routine, I want the truth." Her eyes narrowed even more as she rounded on Narumi.

Narumi sighed. "I guess I always wanted to know how it felt to be part of a team with people my own age. To see how they reacted, how a regular teenage acted." Narumi stared at the wall with a look of sadness. "I guess I wanted to see what Naruto was always talking about. How wonderful it was to have friends who understood you more then an adult ever could." Narumi suddenly felt Anko's arms around him.

"You idiot, you have every right to find out those things, but you don't have to hide behind your brothers identity. You should go ahead and show the village yourself, don't let them decide about whether you should hide or not." Anko broke the hug and stared into the teens eyes. "Next time you pull a stunt like this though, make sure you tell me so that I'm going around blowing your cover."

"All right, I'll tell you next time." Narumi smiled and gave Anko one last hug. Breaking the hug Narumi ran to catch up with his teammates.

'He's grown up so much since I first met him.' Anko thought, her mind drifting back to that day.

_"Anko, Ibiki, this is Narumi Uzumaki." The third Hokage told the ANBU members. A small boy was standing next to the Hokage with his head down low. "I want you two to be his mentors. You will teach him how to fight, how to interrogate, and anything else you think is necessary." With that the Hokage turned around and left the group to their own devices._

_Anko crouched down and looked Narumi in the eye. "Why does the Hokage want us to teach such high level stuff?_

_Narumi met her eyes and she could see a look of determination within them. "So that I can protect my brother from the villagers who would wish him dead." Was the simple answer from the small boy._

_Ibiki smiled. "Sounds like a good responsible reason." Crouching down next to Anko he continued. "Is there anything you yourself want to learn, just for the sake of learning it?"_

_The question caught the young boy off guard, the blue which once held such a look of determination, were now lost. "I-I don't know what I want to learn." Narumi looked down once again but Ibiki caught his chin and pulled face up. Looking into the young boys eyes Ibiki smiled._

_"Then we'll just have to figure that out." With that Ibiki took the boys hand and lead into the ANBU complex explaining what and ANBU is and what they're job is._

'Ibiki made me swear never to tell anyone about the soft spot he has for Narumi.' Anko thought as she made her way up the stairs. 'I sure hope Narumi knows what he's doing though.'

A/N: So what do you think of chapter three? It's kind of long but oh well. Next chapter will have catfight among others, plus a surprise at the end. Remember, reviews are a writers life blood, so review please!


	4. Chapter 4: Chuunin Exams Part Three

**Two Sides of the Same Coin**

**Chapter Four**

**Chuunin Exams Part Four – Player vs. Player**

The exhausted ninjas all took full advantage of the offered showers and rooms. For the next twenty-four hours, everyone relaxed, but made ready for the battles ahead. The older ninjas, the ones who had gone through the exam before, knew what to expect, but the younger generation didn't.

"I wonder if we'll do one-on-one fighting like last time, or if they'll make us do another team exercise?" Moegi wondered as she paced across her small room in front of Udon and Maiko/Numi.

"I suspect that they'll have us do one-on-one battling, just to thin out the crowd for the final round." Maiko/Numi said as he relaxed on the bed.

"What do you mean 'thin out the crowd'?" Udon asked as he sat backwards on a wooden chair. "There's only you, me, Moegi, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and the other three from wave country." Udon counted off the people on his fingers.

"Yeah, eighteen people are too many people for a final round. Now nine, that's a nice, small number, anything under ten is good." Maiko/Numi told the young ninja as he sat up and regarded the only female in their group with a stare. "Moegi, stop pacing. Pacing isn't going to help you be any less ready for the matches than if you just rest."

"I know, I know, it's just that I'm nervous. We're going up against our sempai's in the next matches." Moegi stopped her pacing for a moment. "I do wonder though, how is it that all of the Konoha teams made it through and only one Water team?" Moegi wondered aloud as she stared at the floor.

"Because Konoha ninja's rock! That's why." Kiba announced loudly as he poked his head into the room. "Time's up guys, they want us to assemble in the main room ASAP." The three ninjas nodded and followed Kiba as they made their way to the designated fighting arena.

"Finally you're all here." Anko stated as the stragglers joined the group. "We will now commence the preliminaries for the final round. Usually Hayato would oversee this portion, but he is currently ill with the flu. Instead, Hatake Kakashi has agreed to fill in for him." Kakashi waved to the crowd from his position with the other teachers. Team seven sweat-dropped and hoped their teacher wouldn't bring out his orange book.

"Anyway, these next matches will be one-on-one. That black screen on the wall behind you will randomly decide the two combatants for the matches. The winner of that match will go on to the finals. Are there any questions?" Anko asked her audience.

"Are we allowed to kill our opponent?" A genin from Water asked.

"No, that is part of the new rules that have recently been instated since the last Chunnin exam." Anko's eyes settled briefly on Lee. "Any killing or serious maiming of your opponent will earn you an automatic disqualification." Some grumbling from the Water team was heard, but nothing else was said.

"Since there are no more questions, let's see who our first contestants are!" Anko yelled and the screen started to spin random letters until two names were seen. "Looks like Kiba Inuzuka and Tenten will be up first. If those two and Kakashi would stay on the arena floor, the rest of you need to make your way to the viewing stands." Anko pointed towards the mentioned stands and everyone hustled up the metal stairs.

"So, Naruto, who do you think will win?" Maiko/Numi asked as the duo climbed up the stairs.

"Tenten, she has more experience than Kiba, and more self control." Narumi answered, looking at the bandaged boy next to him. "How do you think it will turn out?"

"I think Kiba'll win. After all, he does have to make up for losing last time." Maiko/Numi grinned as he looked forward. "I don't remember though who his opponent was, do you?"

"Yeah I do actually. It was me, I out-witted him." 'Actually I don't even remember how Bro beat Kiba. I was on a mission at the time and he never got the chance to tell me before Orochimaru's seal got to him. Even after I was whisked away from Konoha so fast I didn't have a chance to ask.' Naruto thought to himself, hoping his answer was correct.

"You out-witted him, huh? I had always thought that it was mostly Kiba underestimating his opponent and making some very stupid mistakes." Maiko/Numi commented with a grin, looking out of the side of his eye at Narumi. "I could be wrong though, after all, you were there." Maiko/Numi gave one last grin, then left to join Moegi and Udon. Narumi grimaced and quickly made his way towards Sasuke and Sakura.

"What's wrong Narumi?" Sakura asked when she saw her teammates face.

"It's that Maiko/Numi whatever his name is guy, I think he knows that I'm not Naruto." Narumi whispered fiercely.

"How would he know that?" Sasuke questioned, looking sideways at Narumi.

"I don't know." Their conversation was cut short by the start of the match and Narumi tried to make that the priority in his mind.

"Alright you two," Kakashi began as he stood between the two competitors. "Don't try to maim or kill, but do try to keep it short. We have a lot of matches to go through today. I now declare that the first round of the final prelims has begun!" Kakashi jumped up into the stands while Kiba rushed his opponent.

"Let's go Akamaru!" The large dog bounded forward, threatening to overrun the girl. Tenten merely jumped into the air, bringing out her large summoning scroll in the process.

"Is that all you've got Kiba?" Tenten taunted as the scroll unfurled. "Let me see if I can find a muzzle for your dog."

"No need," Kiba appeared behind Tenten and grabbed the end of the summoning scroll, twirling it around the kunoichi. Letting go of the scroll, Tenten was flung towards the ground headfirst. Before she had a chance to land on her feet, she was head-butted by Akamaru. Tenten was knocked out of conscious, and the Exam. Narumi winced in sympathy.

"Winner, Kiba!" Kakashi announced and Kiba threw a victory fist in the air.

"I don't see why you're celebrating Kiba." Sasuke called down from the stands. "After all, it was Akamaru who head-butted her, not you."

"You're just jealous that I finished my match quickly." Kiba retorted, stroking Akamaru's head.

"Jealous of you, as if, I'm just giving credit where credit is due." Kiba's face went red at Sasuke's remark. Muffled laughter could be heard from the stands.

"Alright, alright already, that's enough." Kakashi said as he waved his hands. "Since Akamaru can't compete without Kiba, Kiba will be allowed to continue on to the next round." Kiba's face went beet red with anger and the crowd did nothing to hold back their laughter. Hinata tried to calm down her teammate when he entered the stands. It worked, to a point.

Kakashi gave one last sigh, and then addressed the crowd again. "Our next match is an old favorite catfight, the infamous Sakura versus Ino!" Kakashi announced as the names appeared on the screen.

"All right!" Lee yelled, pumping his fist in the air. "I bet twenty bucks that Sakura will win."

"I'll match you, but my money's on Ino." Choji stated as he grinned. Ino leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thanks Choji." Ino smiled once more before she jumped down to the competition floor. Sakura arrived on the scene at the same time, and once again both competitors faced each other down.

"This time Ino, there'll be no draws, because I'm gonna win." Sakura stated as she pulled on her gloves.

"Don't be sure about that, you're not the only one who's been training. It's gonna take more than a punch to beat me." Ino taunted back. Kakashi sighed and did his best to control the catfight.

"Girls, that's enough trash talking for now. Why don't you concentrate on some fair fighting now?" Kakashi suggested.

"Kakashi-sensei, how can you even suggest that we'd cheat?" Sakura asked staring at her mentor in shock.

"It's just a precaution, besides, the moderator handbook says that I have to say that if the competitors have a history of fighting dirty." Kakashi told the enraged girl has he held up a blue book.

"Which we do," Both girls responded, and then sighed together.

"Whatever, you've said your piece, now let us fight." Ino stared at Sakura. "I'm ready."

"So am I." Sakura replied, as both girls stared the other down, just waiting for the signal to begin. Kakashi didn't hesitate.

"Alright then, begin!" The moment Kakashi was out of the way, the two girls let loose a hell fury on each other. They were matched kick for kick, punch for punch, even kunai to kunai. Neither one could get far enough away from each other to attempt a jutsu. The only sounds in the arena were grunts and clashing metal.

Ino managed to fend off a kick from Sakura, but was thrown back from the blast. As she flew back, she let loose an exploding kunai towards her opponent. The projectile hit the ground with a bang, a cloud of dust hiding the whole scene from view. Sakura took this opportunity to come up behind Ino and deliver a kick to the small of her back. Ino was sprawled on the ground, and barely managed to roll away in time as Sakura punched the ground where her head would've been.

"Are you trying to scar my face?" Ino asked rolling to her feet, eyes glued on the crater in the floor now as Sakura pulled her hand free.

"Yeah, I think your cheek could use a battle scar or two." Sakura answered and then attempted to move, but she couldn't. Wind shackles had wound themselves around her extremities, immobilizing her. Ino grinned as he held her hands in a hand sign.

"Wow, where'd she dig that jutsu up?" Asuma asked out loud as he and the other instructors looked on at the old jutsu.

"She was going through some old family scrolls and came across it." Shikamaru replied lazily as he watched his teammate. "She's been practicing that move for a few months now with Choji and me. This is the first time she's ever actually used it in battle."

"And that may not have been such a good idea." Choji added as he looked down at the fight.

"What? Why not?" Asuma questioned. "It seems like it's working alright to me."

"Yeah it's working now, but the jutsu uses an insane amount of chakra. She can't hold it for long, and afterwards she's lost almost all her chakra." Shikamaru contemplated the scene below. "I think Choji should just hand over the twenty bucks now."

Ino grunted as her chakra was used to hold the wind shackles in place. Using this move was idiotic, but she had to pay Sakura back somehow. Using the last of her chakra, she managed to throw Sakura into the stone wall behind her. Sakura collapsed in a heap with chunks of rock all around her, while Ino slumped to the ground unconscious.

There was a silence for the minutes after, everyone watching to see who could stand up first. Sakura grunted and slowly climbed to her feet. As she made her way towards Ino, Kakashi announced her as the winner. Choji and Shikamaru both jumped down next to their teammate as Sakura examined her.

"She's okay guys; she just used too much of her chakra. She'll wake up in a couple of minutes." Sakura reassured the worried boys. They both nodded and Choji gathered the fallen girl in his arms. All three made their way back up towards the stands.

"That was kind of anti-climatic." Moegi said aloud as she watched the trio. "I mean here we all were looking for some awesome conclusion to an epic battle, but instead it's decided by chakra exhaustion."

"Moegi, you need to understand that most battles are decided by the amount of chakra a person has. Besides, that was a really cool jutsu that Ino performed." Maiko/Numi explained. "Ino managed to hold Sakura for a couple of minutes, which is a feat in of itself. She should be proud herself."

"Yeah, and who knows, perhaps with some more work, Ino will be able to make that jutsu really work in combat." Kurenai added to the explanation.

"Yeah, that jutsu would be awesome for interrogation." Anko said aloud to herself while Narumi silently agreed.

"Please don't say that when she wakes up." Asuma asked as he faced the kunoichi. "I really don't want Ino thinking about becoming an interrogator."

"Why not, don't you think she'd be good at it?" Anko asked, looking quizzically at her fellow jonin.

"Actually I think she'd do very well as an interrogator, and that's what scares me." A round of laughter by the Konoha ninjas followed this. The competitors from water couldn't see what was so funny.

"Okay guys, we need to continue on with the matches." Kakashi called up towards the stands as the screen's letters started to swirl once again. "Our next competitors are Neji of Konoha and Ronin of Water. Please make your way down to the arena floor." Both boys complied with Kakashi's request.

As they measured each other up, every Konoha ninja examined the newcomer from Water. He wasn't exactly tall, but he wasn't short either, and his small frame coupled with his unruly black hair, made Ronin look younger than just fifteen.

"Now remember, if you kill or seriously maim your opponent, you are automatically disqualified." Kakashi reminded the boys' keeping his eye on Ronin.

"Whatever you say, can we just get this little formality over with already." Ronin stated as he crossed his arms, staring at Neji. Neji's eyes furrowed together over the comment.

"We'll see just how much of a formality this is." Neji activated his byakugan as a sort of demonstration; Ronin didn't honor him with a reaction.

Kakashi's eyes darted between the two combatants for another minute before he called begin and jumped away. As soon as Kakashi was clear, Ronin dissolved into water. Water began to burst from the ground, filling the arena right up to the stands. Neji was completely submerged and held at the bottom of the pool by chakra strings.

The first thing that crossed Neji's mind was that he was trapped in a genjutsu. "Kai!" Neji thought in his mind, but the water didn't recede. Accepting that he really was trapped, he inspected his bonds with his eyes. Seeing the flow of chakra, Neji stopped it and forced the strings to fall apart. Now free, Neji swam frantically towards the surface.

"Wow, it took you a whole four minutes to escape." Ronin commented as his opponent's head broke the surface. Ronin grabbed Neji's hair and held him out in front of himself. "You are so pathetic, being trapped by a little chakra string." Ronin tossed Neji to the side.

Neji was able to stand up on the water, and faced Ronin. Now he was annoyed. Ronin conjured dozens of water clones, and instructed them all to attack the Konoha nin. Neji initiated the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms as a way to keep his invaders at bay while he tried to figure out a plan.

No matter how many clones Neji took down though, there were always three more ready to take its place and Neji's chakra was falling low because of his jutsu. Suddenly, the clones melted back into water. The water was still, and Neji waited anxiously for Ronin's next move. As much as he hated to admit, Ronin had set the tempo for this match, and now he was stuck playing defense.

The spectators in the stands could feel the anticipation in the air as everyone stood waiting to see what would happen next. They got an answer. A tail of water broke the surface of the water and raced towards the Konoha nin. Neji dodged the tail, but two more came up behind him and dragged him down to the arena floor.

Ronin stood there, surrounded by an air bubble, watching as his water serpents held the rival ninja in place. "Come on, I expected a better fight than this from the great Neji Hyuuga, genius of the Hyuuga clan." Ronin taunted a sadistic smile on his face. Neji glared at him. Neji re-activated his Byakugan, and almost gasped. Ronin's smile grew bigger.

"Ah, I see you've finally discovered my little trick." Ronin stepped closer to the imprisoned ninja. "Seeing as I grew up in Water, it would only be natural that I grew to have an affinity for water. I've infused this water with strands of chakra. So these strands and my affinity make me the Master of Water." Ronin twirled his hand and three spheres of water instantly formed, solidifying into solid chunks of ice. Ronin launched these spheres at Neji, with all three hitting their mark.

Neji was thrown out of the water, crashing hard into the ceiling, hard enough to send a crack throughout it. Acting on instinct, Neji held himself to the ceiling with his chakra. He was panting heavily. All of the oxygen depravation, physical abuse, and mild chakra exhaustion were draining his strength quickly, very quickly. The spectators from Konoha couldn't believe this turn of events. Never before had anyone pushed Neji this far so quickly before. Suddenly the outcome of this match wasn't what they'd thought. The two Water ninjas left only grinned as they watched their comrade come out of the man-made pool.

Ronin rose out of the water on a pillar made of ice, his clothes, hair, and skin completely dry. As he came to the same height as Neji, he sneered. "Oh how the mighty have fallen. Whenever the elders had talked of Konoha's strength, your name always seemed to come up. I thought that you would have been a worthy opponent for me, but it seems that I was wrong." Water tendrils rose from the water and wrapped themselves around Neji's appendages before he could even blink. They dragged him back under towards Ronin's domain.

This time though, Neji no longer had the strength to resist. As he slowly sank into unconscious, the water disappeared through a hole in the middle of the arena, its original source.

Silence came over the apprehensive crowd as the scene below them was unveiled by the water's disappearance. Neji Hyuuga, the brilliant nephew of Hiashi Hyuuga, had lost. Kakashi knelt next to the unconscious boy and gestured for the medics.

"Winner Ronin," Kakashi announced as he stood up, letting the medics take over. Ronin grinned, and jumped back up to his teammates who greeted him with nods and high-fives.

"Neji….lost?" Narumi said in disbelief. He was having trouble accepting that anyone could beat Neji so easily, and yet Ronin had. Neji hadn't even had much of a chance to defend himself.

Maiko/Numi nodded as he stood next to Narumi. "Ronin was a strong opponent. Not only did he grow up in Water, but he obviously has an affinity for it. We will both have to be on our guard should we ever have to face him." Narumi nodded as they both watched Neji be taken away on a stretcher.

"The competition is much more intense this year." Jiraiya stated as he stood with Tsunade and Shizune.

"I agree, and I'm a little concerned about our guests from the land of Water." Tsunade commented. "It seems that we'll have to keep a close on them. All of them." Both of her companions nodded silent agreement as Kakashi stood in the middle of the arena again; ready to announce the next match.

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone, thank you to all the people recently who have alerted or faved this story! Seriously, I had like seven people do that in the course of three days! That rocked! I know I promised a surprise, well there was kind of one, but the big on isn't going to be for a while. I'm sorry, but it fits better in the story! Some of you probably already knew what it though. Until next time!**


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